Retailers today face mounting pressure to maximise uptime, streamline operations, and deliver seamless customer experiences.
Yet many still rely on what Brad Unal, senior manager, ANZ services delivery at Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions, calls a “reactive break/fix maintenance” approach: Waiting for systems to fail before sending in technicians. That, he says, is costly, disruptive, and increasingly unsustainable in a retail environment where every minute of downtime can mean lost revenue and dissatisfied customers.
Proactive Availability Services (PAS), Toshiba’s AI-driven remote monitoring and insight solution, is designed to change that equation. Instead of reacting to breakdowns, PAS predicts, prevents, and resolves issues before they cause disruption – all in real time. Furthermore, it can automatically deploy a technician to visit a site if resolution requires hands-on maintenance.
From repair to prevention
PAS replaces reactive maintenance with a predictive model. By continuously monitoring registers, self-checkouts, service counters, and peripheral devices, PAS helps retailers resolve issues before they escalate, resulting in fewer outages, lower costs, and smoother store operations.
“Proactive Availability Service uses data and analytics to best predict the health of the product and how to extend its life and prevent it from failing altogether,” explains Unal. “For example, if you’ve used 95 per cent of your hard drive’s life, you can act before it fails. Back up the data, replace the drive, and avoid downtime or moving a receipt printer that has thousands of prints, with a printer on a different, less busy lane half the print life – ultimately extending the life of the hardware and keeping lanes operating.”
The platform is not limited to Toshiba’s own hardware. PAS can monitor third-party solutions, anything with an operating system, making it adaptable to diverse retail environments. From POS terminals and scanners to printers, scales, and even network devices, PAS provides a unified layer of visibility.
Scalable for all retail formats
The dashboard, better described as a command centre, is displayed in Australian implementations as a map-based interface. It provides managers with a real-time 24-seven overview of the health of its store networks, down to specific stores and lanes. By flagging potential failures through alerts sent to by SMS, email, or directly into a retailer’s service management platform, it actively works to minimise equipment failures and downtime.
From the dashboard, IT teams can also track KPIs, device performance, asset inventories, and incident trends across the enterprise or down to a single device.
The goal is simple: Keep more checkout lanes open, shorten queues, and ensure better customer experiences.
Results in practice
One large international retailer reported that after deploying PAS across thousands of POS units, it achieved a 15–18 per cent proactive resolution rate. In practice, that means up to 180 incidents out of 1000 each month are now addressed before they cause disruption.
“Our system can identify when an issue is likely to occur,” says Unal. “Instead of a device being down for three business days, we can intervene before it fails and resolve it in maybe an hour. That translates directly into fewer outages and less lost revenue.”
For frontline employees, the benefits are practical. Associates spend less time troubleshooting technical issues and more time serving customers. By minimising interruptions at the checkout, PAS supports both operational efficiency and customer satisfaction.
AI-driven insights
At the core of PAS is a machine learning engine that builds predictive models for each retailer. The more data it ingests from devices, the more accurate its forecasts become.
“When you’re reducing downtime, you’re extending hardware lifecycles and lowering labour costs,” notes Unal. “If two POS units are running in a store, and you prevent one from going down for two or three days, you’re avoiding lost sales and reducing pressure on support staff.”
This predictive capability makes maintenance more like automotive servicing: Constantly monitoring and addressing issues component by component rather than waiting for a catastrophic failure.
Enhancing security and compliance
Beyond maintenance, PAS strengthens compliance and security across retail networks. It can detect unauthorised devices – a rogue USB stick or keyboard, for instance – and trigger alerts before risks escalate. It also provides oversight of software versions across an estate, helping IT teams identify outdated or vulnerable systems.
“Outdated software is often the entry point for compromises,” says Unal. “With PAS, you know exactly which version is running across your fleet, so you can standardise updates and address vulnerabilities quickly.”
Looking ahead
As AI capabilities advance, platforms like PAS are expected to take on an even larger role in predicting and preventing disruptions. The combination of machine learning, real-time monitoring, and proactive maintenance positions retailers to operate with greater confidence and stability.
In an industry where downtime directly impacts revenue and reputation, the move from repair to prevention is no longer optional.
